During an interview with TATAME the phenomenal 145er spoke about the possibility of fighting as a lightweight where he, as always, deferred to his head coach as making the decision but did reveal an interesting tidbit indicating he’s been thinking about making a move for quite some time.

“I’m feeling great on the featherweight. I really wanted to test myself a while ago, since I was at WEC, but Andre (Pederneiras) knows better. I’ll fight if he wants me to, otherwise I’ll just stay here.”

Pederneiras, who heads Nova Uniao, has come out to say Aldo would fight at 155 pounds but only if given an immediate title-shot.

“The next step is to keep defending my title for a long time,” continued Aldo. “We’re achieving our goals now, I’m seeing some of my personal dreams coming true, so we gotta keep working and I’m sure we’re gonna break much more records.”

The starry-eyed 25-year old also touched on his memorable dash into the crowd after knocking Mendes out in the opening round.

“It was big, man,” Aldo exclaimed!

“Since the UFC matched us up people were being very affectionate…fans sent me messages, so I thought to myself, ‘If I win this thing, I’m gonna run to the fans.’ Thank God everything worked out, I could run. The fans liked it, everyone liked it, so it was great,” Aldo concluded before joking that it may have actually been everyone BUT the security guards.

No definite opponent has been set yet for Aldo’s next title-defense but upcoming bouts featuring Hatsu Hioki and Dustin Poirier are likely to have a significant impact on the contendership picture.

PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

After ending Chad Mendes evening in the main event of the Rio de Janeiro, Brazil card with a perfectly-placed knee, “Scarface” ran into the large group of Brazilians and celebrated to the chagrin of the security guards in the arena.

None of that mattered to Aldo, however, as the champion just wanted to be among those that meant so much to him.

“My fans give me so much love and so much good energy, so there’s nothing better than celebrating with them,” Aldo explained after his moment in the mass of fans.

It remains to be seen who Aldo will face next for his UFC title, but those watching will likely never forget the scene they saw at UFC 142.

Enjoy re-living Aldo’s celebration with his countrymen following UFC 142 in the video below:

“If it depends on me, it won’t happen. Unless he leaves the team to train somewhere else and someone agrees with that, because I will not,” said Pederneiras in a conversation with Sherdog before adding a caveat, saying, “It won’t happen for now, unless he goes straight for a title shot. Not, ‘Oh no, he left the featherweight belt, moved up to lightweight and started from the beginning.’ No way.”

While Edgar will defend his title against Ben Henderson at UFC 144 no clear-cut contender has emerged for the winner the face. UFC President Dana White has also expressed his openness to the idea of Aldo heading up to lightweight if he wants to though he’s stopped short of guaranteeing an immediate title-shot.

Aldo holds an overall record of 21-1 and is on the cusp of eliminating all legitimate opposition at 145 pounds after knocking out previously unbeaten Chad Mendes in the first round of their headlining bout at UFC 142. Other notable opponents he’s taken out in dominant fashion include Florian, Mark Hominick, Mike Brown, and Urijah Faber.

PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Aldo spoke some about his inability to overwhelm opponents in the UFC as he did in WEC, offering up a fairly logical reason for the change in outcome.

“More publicity means more studying, more strategy, and guys come to fight avoiding my creativity,” explained in an interview with the UFC’s website. “It’s not like in the WEC times, when they were unsure of, ‘What will this guy will come out with next?’ So this is not just trying to knock their head off, but there is an elite opponent ready to capitalize on my mistakes and spoil things for me.”

“I never stopped training flying knees, and my standup game is much better than it was in the WEC, but like I mentioned, we have worthy talent standing on the other side of the cage,” he continued. “WEC (did) too, but in the UFC, the opponents have more footage and they are taking advantage of this fact.”

Come tonight’s bout against Mendes it could be a different story, as Aldo revealed he is understandably amped about competing in his home-country, saying, “I’m fighting in Rio de Janeiro, with the support of my fans, so I’ll push the pace and get back on the road to knockouts.”

Fans can catch Aldo’s attempt to finish the unbeaten Mendes tonight on PPV when things start at 10:00 PM EST. As always Five Ounces of Pain will be covering the action from start to finish. Make sure to check back here when preliminary pairings begin at 7:00 PM EST on Facebook.

PHOTO CREDIT – WEC/UFC

That’s because the bout will take place in Aldo’s native country of Brazil inside the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro at UFC 142: Aldo vs. Mendes.

Along with being one of the pound-for-pound best fighters in the world, “Scarface” is also looked upon as the possible heir apparent to Anderson Silva’s title as Brazil’s best. With a win over Mendes, Aldo may just stake that claim.

“After I knock him out at home, the fans will go crazy with happiness,” said Aldo in a special video from the UFC promoting the show. “I’m going for the knockout or a submission. I want to leave a good impression. I will defeat Chad Mendes, especially at home.”

Mendes, who is undefeated in his pro MMA career and widely-regarded as one of the elite featherweights in the world, believes he can take the approach of a movie character into this fight: Rocky Balboa, the slugging boxer who won over the hearts of everyone in his title fight with Apollo Creed.

“I’m looking at this kind of like a Rocky story. I’m going to go in there and fight the champion in his back yard and take it from him,” Mendes said. “I’m going into Brazil and I’m going to take that belt. I’m going to become the next featherweight champion of the world.”

Check out the video below, highlighting past fights involving both Aldo and Mendes:

PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

With Mendes providing a very strong challenge to his reign as featherweight champ Aldo knew improving his takedown defense was important. As such, he brought Gray Maynard down to train with him recently. “The Bully” is a former standout at Michigan State University and nearly claimed the UFC lightweight title from Frankie Edgar on more than one occasion.

“We met a few times at UFC events, and from there we started a friendship,” said Aldo in a video documenting his time with Maynard. “It’s great to have such a talented guy come over. And thank God now was a good time for him.”

Mendes is a member of Team Alpha Male out of California, training with the likes of Urijah Faber and Joseph Benavidez. He is a NCAA runner-up while competing at Cal Poly. His bout against Aldo will serve as the main event for the UFC’s return to Brazil, as the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro will play host to the card. Vitor Belfort and Anthony Johnson tangle in the co-main event.

Check out the video of Aldo-Maynard below:

“About his speed, it won’t be a problem,” said Aldo in an interview with the UFC. “He’s always been an explosive fighter, but I’m an explosive fighter as well. I’ve been training jiu-jitsu since I was a kid, so if we both hit the ground, I will be the one with the advantage.”

Another advantage Aldo feels he has pertains to a past pairing against Urijah Faber, Mendes’ coach and confidant. Aldo beat “The California Kid” soundly in April 2010, picking apart his leg with kicks throughout their five round affair.

“Chad’s style of fighting is very similar to Faber’s,” Aldo explained. “The height, the wrestling, the way they move…they are very similar. Mendes is younger than Faber, but it’s basically the same type of fight for me.”

And, of course, Aldo also feels he’s the superior stand-up artist, stating a stoppage seems likely given the match-up.

“Mendes has got a disadvantage fighting me on his feet. He’s not as good a boxer as the other guys I have faced and I don’t think he can do well standing up in this fight. I will be looking for a knockout or a submission.”

Catch Aldo defend his belt against Mendes when the main card of UFC 142 takes to the PPV airwaves on Saturday night. Other featured bouts include Sam Stout vs. Thiago Tavares and Vitor Belfort vs. Anthony Johnson.

PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Aldo and Mendes could be the start of an America vs. Brazil rivalry, as the two will likely be one of numerous pairings involving the clash of nationalities and also meet a few months before a likely encounter between UFC middleweight champ Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen.

For Aldo, the bout will mark the first time he has fought in Brazil since 2007. “Scarface” is 20-1 in his career and has won thirteen straight fights including back-to-back decision victories to defend his UFC title against Kenny Florian and Mark Hominick.

Mendes (11-0) is 2-0 in the UFC since the company folded in the WEC. He has won seven of his fights via decision and two each by KO and submission.

“Aldo hasn’t lost in over five years, but Mendes has yet to lose in MMA, and after clearing out all the contenders put in his way, he believes he has what it takes to beat the champion,” said UFC President Dana White in a recent interview with FOX Sports’ website and has since been announced by the UFC.

A venue for the title fight has yet to be decided, but rumors have mentioned Rio de Janeiro as a possible site meaning the promotion would likely return to the HSBC Arenar where UFC 134 was held.

PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

UFC

Aldo’s talk of wanting to meet Edgar at 145 pounds is something that could work out in the future, as even UFC President Dana White believes “The Answer” would be better suited for the featherweight division because of his size. The odds of Aldo facing Edgar are slim-to-none for now, as both men have plenty of challengers left in front of them.

For Aldo, many feel like he needs to move up from featherweight because of the drastic weight-cut he takes on before fights. But, with his talk of wanting to face Edgar there, that would seem to be something that hasn’t crossed his mind yet.

“Man, I think it’s great. Frankie is the lightweight champion, so if he moves down, no problem,” said Aldo, in a recent interview with Tatame. “Just like Kenny Florian did, and others are doing…to me, it’s okay. I’ll always fight the guys they point out for me to fight. Move up is (expletive). If someone’s deciding it someday, it’s (coach) Andre Pederneiras.”

Aldo and Edgar each competed on UFC 136, with Aldo defeating Florian and Edgar finishing off his trilogy of fights with Gray Maynard by knockout.

As for potential opponents, Aldo looks to be on track to defend against Chad Mendes, with Edgar awaiting either Gilbert Melendez or the winner of Ben Henderson-Clay Guida. Melendez is the current Strikeforce lightweight champ but looks to be coming to the UFC as soon as possible.

“Now, I’m just taking (a vacation), so I’m not worried about that,” Aldo said. “I’m spending a few days in the United States. Then, I’ll go back to Brazil, I’ll return to the trainings, and in, the future, I’ll think about it (my next opponent). I’ll fight whoever they tell me to.”

PHOTO CREDIT – ZUFFA

The 14-5 Florian earned his shot at divisional gold with solid performance in his divisional debut last month at UFC 131 against Diego Nunes, a Nova Uniao teammate of Aldo’s. Prior to the fight the original Ultimate Fighter alumnus had scored a number of impressive victories against heavier competition including stoppages against Joe Lauzon, Takanori Gomi, Joe Stevenson, and Clay Guida.

Given Florian’s success at 155 the phenomenal Brazilian can back claims of his status as one of MMA’s top pound-for-pound fighters by beating the veteran challenger. The 24-year old has compiled a 19-1 record since taking to the ring in 2004 and hasn’t lost in more than five years including a dozen wins under the Zuffa banner. During that span he’s hand his hands raised against Jonathan Brookins, Manny Gamburyan, Mike Brown, Urijah Faber, and most recently Mark Hominick at UFC 129.

With the addition of Aldo vs. Florian, plus Edgar vs. Maynard, the increasingly deep lineup in Houston will also feature exciting bouts like explosive striker Melvin Guillard against submission machine Joe Lauzon, streaking middleweight Brian Stann attempting to silence outspoken grappler Chael Sonnen, and BJJ artist Demian Maia taking on former SRC champ Jorge Santiago.

PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

When discussion turned towards featherweight title-holder Jose Aldo during the UFC 129 post-event press conference, UFC President Dana White revealed the company is considering a bout between the explosive Brazilian and undefeated Chad Mendes on August 6 in Philadelphia while referring to Mendes’ record as evidence qualifying for contendership. White also added Ken Florian was not being looked at for the shot even assuming he defeats Diego Nunes in June based on the turnaround time between fights.

Mendes, who turns 26 today, has gone 10-0 since turning pro in 2008 including a win in his Octagon debut over respected veteran Michihiro Omigawa at UFC 126 this past February. Prior to the victory he emerged with his hands raised in four WEC appearances including success against Cub Swanson, Javier Vazquez, and Eric Koch.

If the match-up does indeed come to fruition it will mark the second time Aldo will encounter Team Alpha Male in his career having already notched a one-sided win over founder Urijah Faber a little over a year ago at WEC 48. He has won both of his follow-up fights since then, including Saturday night’s five-round battle with Mark Hominick, to improve his overall record to 19-1.

Other bouts scheduled for UFC 133 include Rashad Evans taking on Phil Davis, a replacement for injured light heavyweight champion Jon Jones, as well as Rich Franklin vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and Vitor Belfort vs. Yoshishiro Akiyama.

PHOTO CREDIT – ZUFFA

White’s statements on the matter confirmed a recent report of the possible scenario from Canadian outlet SportsNet.

However, it’s doubtful Hominick is looking beyond his challenge at this month’s “Fight for the Troops” event scheduled for January 22, as Roop is no pushover in the ring and is coming off a devastating knockout head-kick of “Korean Zombie” Chan Sung Jung last September. He is 11-6-1 overall with a draw against Leonard Garcia and the bulk of his wins assisted by a solid grappling base.

If Hominick loses, according to White, it’s “back to the drawing board.” However, “The Machine” has emerged with his hands raised in four straight appearances and six of his last seven. The 28-year old most recently outpointed Garcia at WEC 51 and holds past victories over Jorge Gurgel and Yves Edwards. He will also be fighting for more than a title-shot when he faces Roop, as Hominick is an Ontario native meaning he’d earn the opportunity to potentially win gold in front of friends, family, and countrymen at UFC 129.

Aldo will undoubtedly be anxiously awaiting their Fight Night 23 result as well. Sidelined with a neck injury since late last year, the dynamic Brazilian champion watched an expected match-up with Josh Grispi slip away when Grispi was soundly beaten by Dustin Poirier at UFC 125 and is likely looking forward to having a set opponent to prepare for.

PHOTO CREDIT – WEC/UFC

Aldo’s plans and status were revealed in a conversation with Tatame.

The UFC currently has a trio of offerings planned for March including a return to Versus on March 3, UFC 128 on March 19, and Fight Night 24 on March 26. All of the cards have already begun to take form so it will be interesting to see where Aldo actually lands.

As far as who the UFC’s 145-pound champion expects to face, Aldo admitted he was disappointed in Grispi’s losing performance at UFC 125 against Dustin Poirier and avoided mentioning any specific names as a replacement for the former featherweight contender. However, he did allude to the match-up between Mark Hominick and George Roop at Fight Night 23 on January 22 as possibly providing an adversary for his attempt at retaining gold.

Aldo is 18-1 overall in his career and has won his last eleven fights including seven by way of TKO. He most recently found success against Manny Gamburyan at WEC 51 this past September and also holds past victories over former featherweight champs Mike Brown and Urijah Faber.

PHOTO CREDIT – WEC

Aldo, who was officially awarded the UFC Featherweight Championship over the weekend during UFC 123, was scheduled to defend his belt against 14-1 contender Josh Grispi at the event.

News of Aldo’s situation was originally reported by HeavyMMA, who stated he would be pulled from the show, then later amended by ESPN’s Josh Gross via Twitter who explained the injury was related to the Brazilian suffering a “compacted vertebrae” but that Aldo still plans to fight. The injury is believed to require at least a month of rehab.

The 24-year old phenom is currently on a eleven-fight win streak and is 18-1 overall. He holds notable victories over Urijah Faber, Mike Brown, and Manny Gamburyan, and is believed by many to be one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in the world.

However, UFC 145-pound champ Jose Aldo is far from an average 24-year old, let alone person, and rather than drinking the night away amongst friends he will likely turn in early in preparation for the biggest fight of his six-year career.

Aldo recently talked to Tatame about his upcoming bout at UFC 125 – the grandest stage he’s ever competed on – against 14-1 featherweight Josh “The Fluke” Grispi and why he felt the right man was fighting him for the strap on January 1st, 2011.

“I’m focused,” said the dynamic, young Brazilian. “I have to defend my belt with all my strength. I live for it, I train for it, so I have to keep the rhythm on the trainings and give my best up there. I have to do the right game plan. I’m prepared and within time we’ll make things right.”

Aldo also explained he not only his openness to dealing with a change from originally rumored contender Mark Hominick to Grispi, but his approval of the move based on his 22-year old opponent’s success against the Canadian at WEC 52.

“I think Grispi deserved it, even because of the fact he beat Hominick. He’s a great fighter and he deserves to be in there with me,” Aldo expressed on the subject of Grispi’s first-round submission victory and title-shot.

After explaining he was focusing his training towards mat-based action even though “The Fluke” has a near-even split between TKO/submission wins, Aldo elaborated on his motivation for his chosen profession was not about gold but rather something far more profound.

“I’m training hard, and I always will,” said Aldo. “I fight for my fans, my gym, my Brazil, and everybody that likes me, so every time I (compete) I’ll give my best – it doesn’t matter what happens, it’ll always be my best…not just for me, but for all people who follow me, that cheer for me and want me to win.”

Aldo is 18-1 in his career with eleven consecutive wins currently to his credit. He has TKO’d seven of the last eight individuals he’s faced in the ring with the lone exception being Urijah Faber at WEC 48.

News of the switch was reported by Heavy.com.

In a press conference earlier this week, UFC President Dana White stated that he considered Aldo one of the top three pound-for-pound fighters in the world. The Brazilian Muay Thai fighter is on an 11-fight winning streak, and has won all eight of his WEC bouts–with only one fight going to decision. His most recent outing was an impressive knockout victory over Manny Gamburyan, and he holds notable wins over Urijah Faber, Mike Brown, and Cub Swanson.

Grispi was signed by the WEC after going 10-1 in smaller organizations and currently holds a record of 14-1. He is coming off of a first-round technical submission victory over L.C. Davis. The guillotine earned him “Submission of the Night” honors. Grispi also defeated Jens Pulver and Mark Hominick by submission and defeated Micah Miller by TKO.

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Aldo recently spoke with Tatame and briefly mentioned the UFC’s proposal of a match-up with “Top 10″ lightweight Ken Florian, though he explained his managers declined the bout without going into specifics about why.

“I wanna fight – it can be at WEC or in the UFC,” said Aldo.

The versatile 145-pounder did, however, go on explain his current focus on featherweight was in-part related to his training partners at Nova Uniao in Rio Di Janeiro.

“When I was fighting in the division above (André Pederneiras) thought there were many people of the gym on that division, and in my division there’s me and Marlon (Sandro),” he elaborated on the situation. “I can play pretty hard in this one and I’m the champion, so I think it’s best for me to stay in this weight division.”

Just because they won’t be fighting each other in December doesn’t mean Florian and Aldo will be left looking for future opponents, as both have since gone on to agree to other bouts in their home-promotions. Aldo will be defending his WEC title against Mark Hominick at WEC 54 in January, while Florian will face Evan Dunham at UFC 126 at the company’s standard Superbowl Weekend card on February 5th.

Headliners Manny Gamburyan and WEC featherweight champ Jose Aldo measured in without incident. In fact, both men weighed 145-pounds on the dot. Aldo will put his title on the line for the second time in his career during the main event, the first defense being a dominating decision win over Urijah Faber at WEC 48 last April.

While their weigh-in may have gone off without a hitch, the same could not be said for a number of the other match-ups including that featuring former 135-pound champion Miguel Torres. Torres came in slightly heavy for his bout against Charlie Valencia but was eventually able to make the 136 pound limit after stripping down.

Also notable were lightweight rivals Jamie Varner and Donald Cerrone for going head-to-head during the proceedings…literally. The two, who came in at 156 and 155.5 pounds respectively, had to be separated by WEC officials after aggressively pressing their foreheads together throughout their pairing’s standard stare-down.

WEC 51 will be broadcast on the Versus Network starting at 9:00 PM EST. In addition to the above fights, the event also features George Roop facing Chan Sung Jung, aka “The Korean Zombie”, and Leonard Garcia testing his stand-up against well-rounded veteran Mark Hominick.

Here is a complete rundown of WEC 51 weigh-in results:

Nick Pace (135 lbs) vs. Demetrious Johnson (135 lbs)
Chad George (135 lbs) vs. Antonio Banuelos (136 lbs)
Diego Nunes (145 lbs) vs. Tyler Toner (145 lbs)
Cole Province (146 lbs) vs. Mike Brown (145 lbs)
Pablo Garza (154 lbs) vs. Tiequan Zhang (154 lbs)
Ed Ratcliff (155 lbs) vs. Chris Horodecki (155 lbs)
Mark Hominick (145 lbs) vs. Leonard Garcia (146 lbs)
George Roop (145 lbs) vs. Chan Sung Jung (146 lbs)
Charlie Valencia (136 lbs) vs. Miguel Torres (136 lbs)
Donald Cerrone (155.5 lbs) vs. Jamie Varner (156 lbs)
Manny Gamburyan (145 lbs) vs. Jose Aldo (145 lbs)

If Cerrone has his way, we’ll be seeing a bout between “The Cowboy” and “Little Ong Bak” sometime in the very near future, as Jose Aldo can consider himself a marked man.

“I’m going to call out Jose Aldo and drop down to 145. I’m really looking forward to that,”said Cerrone during a recent conversation with the “The Ground and Pound” radio show.

According to the Greg Jackson trained fighter, he has no intentions of fleeing from the lightweight division, but plans to challenge himself by continuing to compete in both the 155 and 145 pound weight classes.

Before Cerrone can think about beginning what promises to be a strenuous weight cut, the 26 year old Albuquerque resident is going to have to deal with the heavy handed Ed “9mm” Ratcliff on December 19 as the two will clash in the main event of WEC 45.

Little Anderson, Mini-Anderson, call him what you will, the fact that Aldo is already drawing comparisons to a champion as established and dominant as Anderson Silva could only be viewed as a compliment to the still developing WEC title holder.

Yet it was Silva who took the recent reference as a compliment. The UFC middleweight champion has nothing but respect for Aldo, who many consider to be one of the leaders of the evolution of the sport.

“Man, I get really happy to be a reference, it’s nice that people thinks that… We’re training a lot to see the results“, said Anderson in a conversation with Tatame.com when asked his thoughts on being compared to the younger Aldo. “This guy is a talent, a young kid that’s building his space. He has a great team behind him and he has everything to stay as champion for many years and to bring more happiness to his team and to Brazil“.